Special Report: NCPO chief stresses on importance of national development

Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) General Prayuth Chan-ocha has outlined the Council’s major guidelines for national development. He has also suggested the core values of the Thai people in order to build a strong Thailand.

In his televised public address in the program “Return Happiness to the People,” General Prayuth stressed the application of the Sufficiency Economy philosophy, inspired by His Majesty the King, as guidelines for national development.

Consisting of three components – moderation, reasonableness, and a self-immunity system – Sufficiency Economy will help lead to well-balanced and sustainable development. It advocates that families, communities, and government officials follow a middle path on how to live and behave in developing and administering the country in order to coexist in an increasingly globalized world.

General Prayuth pointed out that the royal advice “to understand, reach out, and develop” would be adopted as guidance and that national development must be carried out holistically and people-centered. There must be a balance between people, economy, and environment under a well-prepared and sufficient risk management.

He believed that the quality of Thai people would improve with various security guarantees on socio-economy. The NCPO will focus on developing people and social quality, safeguarding people’s lives and property, ensuring transparency in public administration, promoting fair competition, and the distribution of economic gains from development in order to reduce disparity in the Thai society.

As for the vision of the NCPO, it is in line with that stated in the 11th National Economic and Social Development Plan (2012-2016), which seeks to develop Thailand into a happy society with equity, fairness, and resilience.

General Prayuth explained that The NCPO has adopted nine major strategies in national administration. These strategies aim to create social fairness, develop human resources for a sustainable life-long learning society, strengthen the agriculture sector, food security, and energy security, restructure the economy for quality and sustainable growth, network with countries in the region for economic and social stability, manage natural resources and environment on a sustainable basis, improve the administration of state enterprises, so that the public truly benefits from their services, improve the national telecommunication system and technology to be sustainable and on a par with other ASEAN countries and the international community, and prevent and suppress corruption.

Lastly, General Prayuth called for cooperation from people of all levels, genders, and ages in helping tackle the existing problems that need to be handled urgently.